Head priest should have quit: Kerala CM on Sabarimala purification

Agencies
January 4, 2019

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 4: The Sabarimala head priest should have quit if he was not ready to accept the Supreme Court verdict, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said today, criticising the priest for conducting "purification" rituals after two women entered the temple.

The priest, Kandararu Rajeevaru, closed the Lord Ayyappa temple and performed "purification" rituals on Wednesday after two women of menstruating age -- Bindu and Kanaka Durga, both in their early 40s -- entered the hilltop shrine around 3.45 am on Wednesday, becoming the first to do so since the Supreme Court order on September 28.

"A strange thing happened at the Ayyappa temple yesterday. The 'tantri' (priest) closed the shrine and performed the purification rituals. This was violation of the SC verdict," the chief minister said.

"The 'tantri' should have quit, if he had any objection to the apex court order as he was also a party to the case," he said.

The court had also heard the priest before delivering the verdict, the chief minister added.

He was referring to the Supreme Court order ending the Sabarimala shrine's decades-old ban on women of menstrual age, or between 10 and 50 years.

The priest had pointed out that there was a violation of tradition at Sabarimala after the women entered the shrine on Wednesday morning, Mr Vijayan said.

Kerala has been witnessing violent protests since yesterday. The shrine and many devotees have refused to accept the Supreme Court order, saying it is inimical to their belief that women below 50 should not be allowed near the deity Lord Ayyappa, a celibate god.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mar 11: Thirteen of the 22 rebel MLAs in Madhya Pradesh have given an assurance that "they are not leaving the Congress", senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said on Thursday while expressing confidence that the Kamal Nath-led government in the state will win a floor test.

"We are not keeping quiet. We are not sleeping," Singh told PTI, a day after Congress leader from the state Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and 22 MLAs submitted their resignations from the assembly in Madhya Pradesh.

Scindia was offered the post of Madhya Pradesh deputy chief minister but wanted his nominee, Singh said. However, Kamal Nath refused to accept a "chela", he said.

Scindia, he said, could have been a Congress nominee to the Rajya Sabha but "only Modi-Shah" can give a Cabinet post to the "over-ambitious" leader.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: India on Friday banned the export of personal protection equipment such as masks and clothing amid a global coronavirus outbreak.

It did not give a reason for the ban but it reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a woman in Kerala who was a student of Wuhan University in China.

The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, and the virus has since spread to more than 9,800 people globally and killed 213 people in China.

Several Indian citizens living in Wuhan will arrive in India by plane on Saturday and be taken to a quarantine centre on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.

India, the world’s second most heavily populated country after China, has taken measures to ensure that all people arriving from China report to health authorities.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: For 30-year-old Shabana Parveen, it was nothing sort of a miracle — giving birth to a healthy baby boy after surviving a brutal attack by a mob who kicked and assaulted her and her husband in northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar.

Their home set afire by the mob, Ms Parveen's family is now pinning their hopes on the newborn who they called a "miracle baby".

Ms Parveen, her husband, two kids and mother-in-law were sleeping inside the house on Monday night when a mob barged into their house.

Narrating their ordeal, Ms Parveen's mother-in-law Nashima told PTI, "They hurled religious slurs, beat up my son. Some of them even kicked my daughter-in-law in the abdomen...as I went to protect her they came charging at me... We thought we would not survive that night. But with God's grace we somehow managed to escape from the clutches of the rioters."

"We rushed Parveen to a nearby hospital but doctors there asked us to go to Al-hind Hospital where she delivered a baby boy on Wednesday," she added.

Despite having lost their home for over two decades and all belongings, her family has overcome the initial shock and are now overjoyed with the birth of the "miracle baby".

Ms Nashima said she had no clue where the family would go after Ms Parveen was discharged from the hospital.

"It's all gone there. Nothing left. Maybe, we will go to some relative's place and see how we can re-build our life," she said.

Ali, 6, who held his one-day-old brother, caressing his forehead, said, "I will take care of him forever and save him from every ill."

The violence over the amended citizenship law in northeast Delhi has claimed 38 lives so far and left over 200 people injured. Frenzied mobs torched houses, shops, vehicles, a petrol pump and pelted stones at locals and police personnel.

Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh and Shiv Vihar are among the areas mainly affected by the clashes.

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